The total tourism earnings of 2019 was recorded at $3.03 billion as accommodation made up 33 per cent of this according to Fiji’s 2019 annual International Visitor Survey (IVS).
Tourists were revealed to have spent $992 million or 33 per cent of total earnings with international airfares totalling $901m or 30 per cent of tourism revenue.
The survey also revealed tourists had spent $606m on restaurants and bars, particularly through meals included in pre-paid packages. “2019 was an exceptional year for the Fijian tourism industry.
It’s especially noteworthy because we’ve reached our $2.2b target, ahead of 2021 as initially anticipated,” Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport permanent secretary, Shaheen Ali, said.
“While we acknowledge global travel and tourism has taken a significant hit from the pandemic, and 2020 will be a difficult year, we hope the IVS report can be taken as a benchmark for Government and industry to strive towards,” he added.
According to a statement from the Department of Information the 2019 IVS report was undertaken jointly with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, with the support of the governments of Australia and New Zealand.
It was stated to focus on assisting the tourism industry to make informed decisions based on available data.
With travel and tourism being halted in 2020 because of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, it was stated the IVS would provide invaluable context to help shape the country’s tourism recovery.
